6 Things Guaranteed to Go Through Your Mind on Maternity Leave

Maternity leave is a beautiful thing. Paid (or semi-paid) time off to spend with your brand new baby — what can be better than that? Honestly, not much, but a lot goes through your mind when it’s just you and your little one getting used to such a significant transition, like these six things that you are guaranteed to think.

1. You’ll question whether you want to go back to work or not.

At some point during your maternity leave (even if it’s only a few days after giving birth), you’re going to wonder how on earth you’re ever going to leave your baby to go back to work. When this thought occurs, you may find yourself whipping out your phone in order to do the ol’ salary minus childcare equation on the calculator. Could you swing it? Do you even want to swing it? Or are you just still dealing with hormones and newborn bliss? Damn you, maternity leave, and all your head games.

2. You’ll wonder if you’re a bad mom for leaving your baby when you do go back to work.

Whether you’re counting down the days until you’re back in the office and feeling like your “normal” self again or counting down the days until you’re back in the office because, OMG, it’s going to be the worst day ever, there will probably be a point where you feel a pang of guilt about leaving your child. This, friends, is called “working mom guilt,” and you’ll get to know it intimately.

3. You’ll wonder if you’re a bad mom because, to be honest, sometimes you’re kind of bored being at home with your baby.

Spoiler alert: Newborns are as cute as can be, but they’re also kind of boring. It may be impossible to ever get enough snuggles from your little one, but when it comes to conversation skills, babies are kind of lacking — so you might get bored. Then you might feel bad about being bored. This is known as “mom guilt,” and it’s “working mom guilt’s” older, wiser, much more powerful sister.

4. You’ll miss your coworkers.

Even if you’ve had your moments of feeling burnt out from your job — and even if Alice does snap her gum too loudly in the cubicle next to you — you’ll probably find yourself missing your coworkers from time to time. “Oh, look at that,” you’ll say to yourself while scrolling through Instagram during a 2 a.m. feed, “they got Sprinkles cupcakes for Jim’s birthday. That’s my favorite.”

5. Speaking of Instagram…you’ll spend a lot of time on Instagram.

What do you do when you’re bored? Check Instagram. What do you do when you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep? Check Instagram. So, yeah, you’ll be checking Instagram a lot while baby’s napping (which can take awhile) and when you’re up in the middle of the night feeding baby (which, again, can take awhile). Prepare to go to social media depths you’ve never ventured to before, friends. This is maternity leave.

6. You’ll have a new perspective on work (in addition to, you know, everything).

Going back to work after being out on leave definitely is a bit of a shock. You will feel like a foreigner in a strange land just trying to figure out the word for “bathroom” because you really have to go! But as time passes, you may find that, thanks to your break from the daily grind and your wildly new perspective on life (oh, how you changed during maternity leave!), you’re a better worker — and person — than you were before.

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This story is meant to reflect individual contributors' experiences and does not necessarily reflect What to Expect's point of view. This content is not intended to be used as medical advice, for diagnosis, or treatment.